UPCOMING EVENTS

This workshop helps you uncover your most authentic and compelling stories and develop the techniques to be as funny as you can be telling them. To distill your point of view. And figure out where in the marketplace it will most flourish.

Beth has been helping funny creatives grow there careers for over a dozen years. She is the creator of UnCabaret. Has hosted and produced it live for 25 years. On TV, the web, Amazon, radio. Additionally she has toured her critically acclaimed one woman shows internationally, is a published author, has worked in comedy clubs, an NEA award winner, has appeared as a personality on CNN, NPR, Politically Incorrect. Has acted on Sex and The City Will and Grace, written for O, The LA Times, Times and more.

The workshop is perfect for anyone working on stand-up, storytelling, spoken word, content creation, memoir. Or anyone with the unexpressed creative urge. Yearning to know their story, to be funnier….

Beth is a master teacher, creative consultant and a professional muse. She’s helped thousands of people fulfill their dreams, find their life purpose while getting funnier and having more fun.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENS IN THE WORKSHOP?

It’s almost impossibly simple. And impossibly effective.

Beth opens each class with instruction and inspiration on comedy, writing, performing, process and focuses on helping you set and achieve goals. Then she answers questions about technique, work flow, career strategies and specific writing and performing challenges and opportunities you are facing. Then each participant gets 10 minutes of focused one on one time with Beth.

Generally the time is divided into 5 minutes at the mic and five minutes of Beth’s detailed notes. Ongoing students might spend more time at the mic and less time with notes because they will already have shorthand with Beth.

Time at the mic (no mic is required if you’d rather simply sit and talk) can be a stand up set, reading a new piece, working from bullet points or working with Beth on a question and answer format. The only thing that isn’t generally very effective is working on the same five minute chunk over and over. This is a workshop intended to help you discover a broad range of material, your own themes, your biggest story, how to develop new material and how to make material work better first time out. There are tons of classes to help you hone a tight five minute set. If you have done those and are looking to go deeper, jump to the next level, take creative risks, get to your funniest self, you have found the right place.

Beth’s notes cover what worked and why, what didn’t work so well and why not. Why something was or wasn’t funny. Why something was or wasn’t a great new direction. Suggestions for what to work on in the coming week and individual assignments for the next class.

CAN I MEET BETH BEFORE WORKING WITH HER?

Yes. Three ways.

1 We can set up a short call and Beth can answer any questions 2. You might want to book a private session with her before the class begins. Not at all necessary but sometimes desirable if there’s a lot of information you’d like her to have before you jump into class. 3. Or you can work exclusively in private sessions.

I began teaching because people wanted to study with me.

There was nowhere to learn UnCabaret style comedy performance. Storybased. Personal. Now focused. Truthful. All the stand up training was still punchlines and tight tens. So I started teaching. I knew it was just a matter of time. While other little girls were playing house with dolls, I was playing school with a blackboard. As soon as I started practicing yoga people started asking me if I was a yoga teacher. I just have it in my DNA. Is it a dream? Nope. Is it my path? Yep. Do I love helping other people, oh yes I do. I called the class The UnCab Lab. As it evolved I started getting students who also wanted to use the techniques for other things than stand up. One person shows. Memoir. Spoken word. Life. There was a magic to the process. People who didn't want to get on stage were seeing big shifts in their lives through the work. Understanding their story, their voice. What was funny. So I changed the name of the workshop so that people who didn't know about UnCabaret wouldn't be confused by it. I mean if you don't know about UnCabaret what sense does UnCab Lab make? I decided to call it The Comedian’s Way. It was a play on The Artists Way. I started my career as a visual artists. (NEA’s, shown at The Metropolitan Art Library... my greatest success was as a book artist). And in some ways what I teach is the creative process. Through the lens of comedy and storytelling. I thought it was funny though that in The Artists Way though it is a process of recovering your senses and using them creatively, the recovery of your seventh sense, your sense of humor, was left out.

People were having real results.

Careers trajectories shifted.

Lives were changed.

Then it was time for my own story to change. I split with my long time producing, and life, partner. He’d been part of the teaching. Though the class was mine to continue with I decided it felt better to shift the name away from what we were doing together. Plus, I was a little tired of using a title that referenced another system. And because it was a period in my life when I was going out on my own again, after a long time of not doing that, I called it simply The Beth Lapides Workshop. Know who you are and do something about it.

That has been my philosophy over the years and that forms the foundation of my teaching. And for me part of who I am is that I love to laugh and make other people laugh. And help other people make other people laugh. All while helping them know who they are and do something about it. And all while keeping my own career vital. That has meant letting UnCabaret go. And then reviving it. Learning to produce it. Acting. Podcasting. Hosting a radio show. Producing TV. Writing a column. Publishing a book. Finishing a few features. Writing TV. Touring one person shows. etc. Over the years I’ve also done workshops when on the road. Sometimes for one three hour session. Sometimes for a weeklong intensive.

Notably, and at opposite ends of the spectrum, at Second City and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. And I’ve worked one on one with folks. Sometimes for one one hour targeted session. Sometimes for a handful of sessions. Sometimes for a handful of years. Sometimes on a show, sometimes on speaking. With famous actors and with lawyers. With spiritual counselors. Authors. Feel free to contact me about setting up either of those. In Los Angeles I’ve moved the class from place to place for the usual reasons. M Bar. UCLA Extension. IO West. Etc. A few years ago I was recording a podcast at Actors Comedy Studio. I was looking for a new spot. They were looking for new teachers. Easy peasy lemon cheesy. Flow. Done. But they felt the class needed a more descriptive name than The Beth Lapides Workshop. Sure. Ok. We brainstormed. I kept talking about the connecting loop between writing and performing.

To go back to UnCabaret. I’d seen so many projects come from sets at UnCabaret. How writing informs the stand up. How stand up and the sound of the voice, and the way we talk helps the writing to become more real, more authentic. More essential. How the combination of these techniques is what helps people, artists, writers find their true selves. And know what to do with it. So we called the class Infinite Writing. It will probably change again at some point. So this page, which I created while the class was called The Comedian’s Way will stay that way. Because it’s still true. It is still the comedians way. The way of creating and recreating. Because creating doesn't mean to make. It means to grow. And laughter is one of the key ingredients in growing. That’s the story. For now. I’m sure it will change, Everything does.